LS elections: NCP, Congress leaders hold meeting to chalk out poll strategy

Leaders of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress party on Saturday held a meeting to chalk out the election strategy for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The meeting was held at NCP leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil's residence in Mumbai.

Congress leaders Prithviraj Chavan, Naseem Khan, Ashok Chavan and NCP leaders Jayant Patil, Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal were present there.

Jayant Patil, NCP told the media, "Final decision will be taken after Congress' internal meeting in Delhi two days later. Today discussions were held on the role of smaller parties in the alliance. Hitendra Thakur (Bahujan Vikas Aghadi chief) came and asked for support. We have not yet decided on that."

 

NCP president Sharad Pawar on Friday held a meeting with the top leaders of his party.

The names of probable candidates, including those for the Aurangabad and Nagar seats, were also discussed during the meeting.

The meeting commenced at 10 pm and ended at 2 am. It was attended by Ajit Pawar, Dilip Walse-Patil, Sunil Tatkare, Jitendra Awhad, Chhagan Bhujbal, and Dilip Patil.

On December 24, Congress party and NCP agreed to collectively contest the upcoming general elections in Maharashtra.

Speaking to ANI, NCP president Sharad Pawar had stated, "In Maharashtra, NCP and Congress will together contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections along with Peasants and Workers Party of India. Till now, we have decided the seat-sharing on 40 seats, still, eight are left. If any consensus is not reached on remaining eight seats then the final decision will be taken by the two party chiefs in New Delhi."

During 2014 general elections, the Rahul Gandhi-led Congress had fielded political contenders for 27 constituencies in Maharashtra, while the Pawar-led NCP had contested on 21 seats. Earlier, the seat sharing was fixed at 26:22, but later the NCP decided not to contest from the Hatkanangale constituency as it did not had any contender. This seat was later contested by the Congress.